SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2015 vs. NEW YORK YANKEES RH Jake Odorizzi (2-0, 0.61) vs. RH Masahiro Tanaka (1-1, 7.00) First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. | Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla. | TV: Fox Sports 1 | Radio: WDAE 620 AM, WGES 680 (Spanish) Game No.: 12 (6-5) | Home Game No.: 5 (1-3) | All-Time Game No.: 2,764 (1,278-1,485) | All-Time Home Game No.: 1,380 (703-676) BREAKING BARRIERS—Today the Rays are holding a Breaking Barriers ALLAN! ALLAN!—Last night, 1B Allan Dykstra hit his first career home celebration…this morning at Tropicana Field, Desmond Jennings and Tim run, a 3-run shot off RH Adam Warren that struck the right field foul pole— Beckham helped at a clinic for 120 kids from Burg Baseball Inc., a nonprofit and Logan Forsythe followed with another HR…it was the first time a Rays organization that provides free baseball programs for youth players in South player was part of back-to-back homers on his first ML home run sinceBrent St. Pete…this group is attending tonight’s game…this week mascot Ray- Abernathy on June 25, 2001 at BOS (with Mike DiFelice)…the only other mond appeared at several local rec centers, distributing activity books and occurrence was June 4, 2000 at NYM, when Felix Martinez and Esteban performing a Jackie Robinson-themed presentation Yan each hit their first HR in back-to-back fashion. Ê During the pregame festivities, the Rays will recognize the two win- ners of the Monte Irvin Scholarship, which is funded by the Rays MORE HOMER ODDITIES—Half of the Rays 12 HR this season have Baseball Foundation and goes to two outstanding minority high come on 2-strike counts…the 6 HR with 2 strikes are tied with the Dodgers, school students in Pinellas County: Quatia Gordon of Boca Ciega Astros and Rockies for 1st in the majors. High School, and Zoe Blair-Andrews of Lakewood High School… Ê Rookies have hit 6 of the Rays 12 HR and also 6 of the 12 HR hit by in addition, the Rays and United Way of Tampa Bay will honor three AL rookies this far…club record for most rookie home runs in April is 8 outstanding individuals for their leadership in the community: Jac- in 1998 (Rich Butler-3, Bobby Smith-3, Miguel Cairo-1 and Bubba queline Coffie-Leeks, Jeremy Cummings and Katie McGill. Trammell-1)…prior to this month, the Rays hadn’t had a home run Ê Today all gameday staff are wearing specially designed “42” T-shirts, by a rookie in April since Reid Brignac on April 27, 2010 vs. OAK. and Rays players will wear the T-shirt during BP…the shirts are avail- Ê Last night was the third time this season Rays pitchers have yielded able for auction at raysbaseball.com/auctions, with proceeds benefit- 3 HR…they are 0-3 in these games…in all other games, they are 8-2 ting the Monte Irvin Scholarship. and have allowed a combined 2 HR in 72.1 IP. FIRST NATIONAL GAME—Tonight’s game is being carried by FOX Sports STRONG LEADERSHIP—A glance at the AL leaderboards: 1, the Rays first nationally televised game of the season…Justin Kutcher Ê The Rays offense leads the AL with 48 walks and 6 bases-loaded and our very own Brian Anderson will be calling the game…if today’s Red walks…they rank T-2nd with 20 doubles and 2nd with 12 SB…the Sox-Orioles game runs long on FOX Sports 1, this game will start on Sun pitching staff leads the AL with 6 saves…the defense ranks 2nd with Sports then be switched to FS1 after the first game ends. a .993 fielding pct. (Orioles .995). Ê OF Kevin Kiermaier leads the AL with 8 extra-base hits, and his RAY MATTER—This series begins a 9-game homestand against AL East 5 doubles are T-1st with former teammate OAK Ben Zobrist…he rivals New York, Boston and Toronto…the Rays are the only major league ranks 10th with a .667 SLG. team to have a winning record vs. each of those teams since 2010…they Ê OF Steven Souza Jr. and OF Desmond Jennings are T-1st with 4 are 3-2 so far in a stretch of 22 straight games against AL East competition, SB…Souza Jr. also leads the league with 6 SB attempts…among AL going through May 6…at 6-5, this is just the fourth time the Rays have had a rookies, Souza Jr. ranks 1st in SB and is tied with Allan Dykstra for winning record through 11 games (2014, 2010, 1998)…the Rays have won 1st with 6 BB. 5 of their last 7 games, and after losing their first 2 games of the season Ê 3B Evan Longoria is T-1st with TOR Jose Bautista with 9 BB. have won 6 of 9…should they win tonight, they would still match 1998 and Ê RH Jake Odorizzi ranks 5th with a 0.61 ERA and 2nd with a .085 2014 as their second-best 12-game record behind 2010 (9-3). opp avg. …RH Chris Archer ranks 8th in ERA and 2nd with 21 SO… Ê The Rays went 5-2 on their road trip to Miami (2-1) and Toronto (3-1)… RH Brad Boxberger is T-1st with 4 saves. it was their third-best April road trip in club history, behind a 9-1 trip in Ê RH Nathan Karns leads AL rookies with 17.2 IP and 17 SO. 2010 (BAL, BOS, CWS) and a 5-1 trip in 2011 (TOR, MIN). RAYS vs. YANKEES—Tonight is the second of 19 games between these RAMPANT ROOKIES—The Rays have nine rookies on the 25-man roster, clubs…the Rays play the Yankees 10 times their first 36 games…Tampa their most ever at one time before Sep 1…the previous was 7 in 2014 and Bay has not lost a season series to NYY since 2009 and are 52-41 since 2007…this group includes RH Matt Andriese, INF Tim Beckham, INF Ryan then…they were 11-8 last season, 12-7 in 2013 and 10-8 in 2012…they Brett, RH Jose Dominguez, 1B Allan Dykstra, RH Steve Geltz, RH Na- are the first team since the 1973-75 Red Sox to record at least 10 wins in 3 than Karns, LH C.J. Riefenhauser and OF Steven Souza Jr. …once Brett straight seasons vs. NYY…since Sep 2, 2011, the Rays are 37-24…since appears in a game, he will be the 10th different rookie to play for the Rays this the start of 2013, the Rays are 13-6 at Yankee Stadium and 10-10 at home. year (also OF Mikie Mahtook), setting a new club record before Sep 1…the Ê Since the start of 2011 in head-to-head play, the Rays have outhom- Rays used nine rookies before Sep 1 in 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2014. ered the Yankees, 96-67…Evan Longoria has hit 26 of his 28 career Ê Prior to this year, the Rays had never used more than four rookies in home runs vs. the Yankees as a third baseman…only one other third the month of April (1998 and 2008). sacker in history has as many: Brooks Robinson (34). Ê With Andriese starting tomorrow, the Rays will have used a rookie starting pitcher in 6 of their first 13 games. REHAB UPDATES—LH Jake McGee (offseason elbow surgery) is sched- Ê Brett will become the fourth Rays player to make his major league uled to throw a bullpen session tomorrow, and the club will decide after debut this season, matching the club’s total for all of 2014…the club where he goes next…RH Alex Colome (pneumonia) will throw a bullpen record is six (2008 and 2001). today, with a decision tomorrow on where he’ll pitch Tuesday…LH Drew Smyly (left shoulder tendonitis) is expected to throw 70 pitches and 4-5 ABOUT THE ROSTER—In addition to 9 rookies, the Rays 25-man roster has: innings in his third rehab start tomorrow for Double-A Montgomery at Jack- Ê 11 players who are making or have made their Rays debut in 2015 sonville (Marlins). Ê 12 pitchers (who have a combined 103 major league wins) Ê 14 players acquired by trade LOW-HITTERS—In their last 9 games, the Rays have had 6 games in Ê 14 players with less than 2 years of MLB service time which their starters pitched at least 5 innings and allowed 2 hits or fewer… according to Baseball Reference, in the last 100 years, no major league 10 ON DL TIES DUBIOUS RECORD—Yesterday the Rays placed LH Jeff team has had as many such starts in their first 11 games—in fact, no team Beliveau (left shoulder soreness) on the 15-day DL, retroactive to April had ever had more than 4…since the beginning of 2014, the Rays have 20 16…this put the DL at 10 players, tying the club record…they had 10 on the such games, 3 more than any other club. DL for parts of May 2012 and several occasions in 1998-99. RAYS WILL RETIRE CALL SIGN OF TARPON SPRINGS OFFICER— GO FIGURE—Dating back to last June 2, the Rays are 35-20 (.614) on the Prior to tomorrow’s Rays-Yankees game, the Rays will “retire” the official road and 25-34 (.424) at home…their road record in this span is 2nd best radio call sign of Tarpon Springs Police Officer Charles Kondek, who was in the majors behind Kansas City (38-20, .655)…their home record is 4th killed in the line of duty on Dec 21, 2014…Kondek’s call sign “285” will be worst in the majors.